1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2"Speak
to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father's
household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their
fathers' households. You shall write each name on his rod, 3and
write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the
head of each of their fathers' households. 4"You
shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the
testimony, where I meet with you. 5"It will come about
that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I will
lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who
are grumbling against you." 6Moses therefore spoke to the
sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for
each leader according to their fathers' households, twelve rods,
with the rod of Aaron among their rods. 7So Moses
deposited the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

8Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the
testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had
sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe
almonds. 9Moses then brought out all the rods from the
presence of the LORD to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and
each man took his rod. 10But the LORD said to Moses, "Put
back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign
against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings
against Me, so that they will not die." 11Thus Moses did;
just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.

12Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying,
"Behold, we perish, we are dying, we are all dying! 13"Everyone
who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, must
die. Are we to perish completely?"

18 Duties of Levites

1So the LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons and
your father's household with you shall bear the guilt in connection
with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the
guilt in connection with your priesthood. 2"But bring
with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your
father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you
and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3"And
they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all
the tent, but they shall not come near to the furnishings of the
sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 4"They
shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent
of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but an outsider may not
come near you. 5"So you shall attend to the obligations
of the sanctuary and the obligations of the altar, so that there
will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. 6"Behold,
I Myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of
Israel; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to perform
the service for the tent of meeting. 7"But you and your
sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything
concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform
service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but
the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."

The Priests' Portion

8Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, "Now behold, I Myself
have given you charge of My offerings, even all the holy gifts of
the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your
sons as a perpetual allotment. 9"This shall be yours from
the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of
theirs, even every grain offering and every sin offering and every
guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy
for you and for your sons. 10"As the most holy gifts
you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.
11"This also is yours, the offering of their gift, even
all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to
you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual
allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.
12"All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh
wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to
the LORD, I give them to you. 13"The first ripe fruits of
all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be
yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. 14"Every
devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15"Every first
issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they
offer to the LORD, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man
you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you
shall redeem. 16"As to their redemption price, from a
month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five shekels in
silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty
gerahs. 17"But the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of
a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are
holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up
their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing
aroma to the LORD. 18"Their meat shall be yours; it shall
be yours like the breast of a wave offering and like the right
thigh. 19"All the offerings of the holy gifts,
which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and
your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It
is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your
descendants with you." 20Then the LORD said to Aaron,
"You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion
among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of
Israel.

21"To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the
tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service
which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. 22"The
sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or
they will bear sin and die. 23"Only the Levites shall
perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear
their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your
generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no
inheritance. 24"For the tithe of the sons of Israel,
which they offer as an offering to the LORD, I have given to the
Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them,
`They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.'"

25Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 26"Moreover,
you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, `When you take from
the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for
your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the
LORD, a tithe of the tithe. 27 `Your offering shall be
reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full
produce from the wine vat. 28 `So you shall also present
an offering to the LORD from your tithes, which you receive from the
sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the LORD'S
offering to Aaron the priest. 29 `Out of all your gifts
you shall present every offering due to the LORD, from all the best
of them, the sacred part from them.' 30"You shall say to
them, `When you have offered from it the best of it, then the
rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as the product of the
threshing floor, and as the product of the wine vat. 31
`You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your
compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting.
32 `You will bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered
the best of it. But you shall not profane the sacred gifts of the
sons of Israel, or you will die.'"

The Holy Bible, New American
Standard Version (c)1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by the Lockman
Foundation, La Habra, CA. All rights reserved. Words
identified as being spoken by Jesus are in red.www.BibleABC.net